When Do Fish Sleep? And Other Imponderables of Everyday Life
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When Do Fish Sleep? And Other Imponderables of Everyday Life
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Narrated by:
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David Feldman
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By:
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David Feldman
About this listen
Why is yawning contagious?
Why are tennis balls fuzzy?
Why do the English drive on the left?
Here's the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's most baffling questions. Part of the Imponderables series, When Do Fish Sleep? arms listeners with the knowledge about everyday life that encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don't have. Think about it: where else are you going to get to the bottom of why Mickey Mouse has only four fingers?
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-
It's all stuff from QI
- By Bonnie Kennedy on 04-07-21
By: John Lloyd, and others
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Rust
- The Longest War
- By: Jonathan Waldman
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 13 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 221
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 183
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Story4 out of 5 stars 184
In Rust journalist Jonathan Waldman travels from Key West, Florida, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to meet the colorful and often reclusive people concerned with corrosion. He sneaks into an abandoned steelworks with a brave artist and nearly gets kicked out of Can School. Across the Arctic he follows a massive high-tech robot, hunting for rust in the Alaska pipeline.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Almost too geeky for geeks
- By Norman B. Bernstein on 03-26-15
By: Jonathan Waldman
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Mere Anarchy
- By: Woody Allen
- Narrated by: Woody Allen
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 530
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 354
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Story4 out of 5 stars 355
For the first time ever, hear Woody Allen’s Mere Anarchy in the author’s own distinctive and hilarious voice. Here, in his first short-story collection since his three classics Getting Even, Without Feathers, and Side Effects, Allen has managed to write a book that answers the most profound questions of human existence.
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2 out of 5 stars
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What can I say…?
- By Diane on 07-03-12
By: Woody Allen
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The Patch
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: John McPhee
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
The Patch is the seventh collection of essays by the nonfiction master John McPhee. It is divided into two parts. It is an "album quilt", an artful assortment of nonfiction writings that have not previously appeared in any book.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A thousand details add up to one impression
- By Darwin8u on 11-15-18
By: John McPhee
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Irons in the Fire
- By: John McPhee
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
Fabulously entertaining and filled with the intriguing trivia of life, Irons in the Fire is another impeccably crafted collection of seven essays by John McPhee. His peerless writing, punctuated with a sharp sense of humor and fascinating detail, has earned him legions of fans across the country.
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4 out of 5 stars
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New New Journalism is on Fire
- By Darwin8u on 02-10-15
By: John McPhee
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How to Invent Everything
- A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler
- By: Ryan North
- Narrated by: Ryan North
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 430
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 365
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 364
What would you do if a time machine hurled you thousands of years into the past...and then broke? How would you survive? With this book as your guide, you'll survive - and thrive - in any period in Earth's history. Best-selling author and time-travel enthusiast Ryan North tells you how to invent all the modern conveniences we take for granted - from first principles. This manual contains all the science, engineering, art, philosophy, facts, and figures required for even the most clueless time traveler to build a civilization from the ground up.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Get the book
- By Tim McNerney on 11-26-18
By: Ryan North
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Goodbye, Vitamin
- A Novel
- By: Rachel Khong
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 310
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 276
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 275
Freshly disengaged from her fiancé and feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, 30-year-old Ruth quits her job, leaves town, and arrives at her parents' home to find that situation more complicated than she'd realized. Her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Ruth's mother, meanwhile, is lucidly erratic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hello Sweet Sweet Book
- By Syd Young on 08-06-17
By: Rachel Khong
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A Million Years in a Day
- A Curious History of Everyday Life from the Stone Age to the Phone Age
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
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Story4 out of 5 stars 83
Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A Million Years in a Day reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Super interesting!
- By Brandon on 07-07-16
By: Greg Jenner
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The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel
- By: Steven Sherrill
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,197
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,107
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,106
Five thousand years out of the Labyrinth, the Minotaur finds himself in the American South, living in a trailer park and working as a line cook at a steakhouse. No longer a devourer of human flesh, the Minotaur is a socially inept, lonely creature with very human needs. But over a two-week period, as his life dissolves into chaos, this broken and alienated immortal awakens to the possibility for happiness and to the capacity for love.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The author is a professor of English
- By ShySusan on 11-16-11
By: Steven Sherrill
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The Emissary
- By: Yoko Tawada, Margaret Mitsutani - translator
- Narrated by: Julian Cihi
- Length: 4 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 85
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4 out of 5 stars 69
Japan, after suffering from a massive irreparable disaster, cuts itself off from the world. Children are so weak they can barely stand or walk: the only people with any get-go are the elderly. Mumei lives with his grandfather Yoshiro, who worries about him constantly. They carry on a day-to-day routine in what could be viewed as a post-Fukushima time, with all the children born ancient - frail and gray-haired, yet incredibly compassionate and wise. Mumei may be enfeebled and feverish, but he is a beacon of hope, full of wit and free of self-pity and pessimism.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Tedious. Waste of time.
- By Kenneth McGovern on 02-17-19
By: Yoko Tawada, and others
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A Year in Provence
- By: Peter Mayle
- Narrated by: Peter Mayle
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 419
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 343
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 342
Peter Mayle and his wife had been to Provence as tourists. They had dreamed of one day trading the long, grey winters and damp summers of England for the blue skies and sunshine of the coast of southern France. And then they made it happen. They moved into an old farmhouse at the foot of the Luberon mountains and embarked on a wonderful, if at times bewildering, new life.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Ban abridged versions
- By marlowe on 03-30-15
By: Peter Mayle
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Andy Rooney
- 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit
- By: Andy Rooney
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
Chairs. Neat people. Ugliness. War. Over six decades of intrepid reporting and elegant essays, Andy Rooney has proven a shrewd cultural analyst. Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit brings together the best of more than a half-century of work (including long-out-of-print pieces from his early years) in an unforgettable celebration of one of America’s funniest men. Like Mark Twain, Finley Peter Dunne (Mister Dooley) and Will Rogers, Andy Rooney is a classic chronicler of America, a writer for the ages.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A good style
- By Denise L. Holtz on 11-04-16
By: Andy Rooney
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Travels with Charley in Search of America
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Gary Sinise
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,530
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,849
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,848
In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. Travels with Charley is animated by Steinbeck’s attention to the specific details of the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature—to weather, geography, the cycles of the seasons. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Gary Sinise is fantastic!
- By C. Wilson on 01-11-17
By: John Steinbeck
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Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,542
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,275
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,274
In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson
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Surviving Ireland
- By: Colm Tobin
- Narrated by: Colm Tobin
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
It's exhausting being Irish. The constant self-flagellation is enough to put anybody off their breakfast. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Is it the postcolonial overhang following centuries of oppression at the hands of a litany of foreign invaders? Or is it collective guilt for sending Westlife out into the wider world? In Surviving Ireland, acclaimed comedy writer Colm Tobin takes the listener by the hand for a satirical romp through modern Irish life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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very fun
- By Rick on 06-12-19
By: Colm Tobin
What listeners say about When Do Fish Sleep? And Other Imponderables of Everyday Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Lee Guarna
- 02-04-16
FAMILY FUN
Fun for children and parents for family .game nights or long car trips with family and friends. My husband and I enjoyed listening on our 12 hour drive. Veery entertains for us. Reminds me of the board game Balderdash.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Paul
- 06-05-08
Not for all ages
this book had lots of good information however all 50 something min could be told on about 10 min. I enjoy books jamed packed with information and keps me thinking .. this book makes me wanna go to sleep. Might be good for ages 13 and under because of the fun games played, I just think its a waste of time
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Simone
- 06-09-13
Stupid – I didn’t realize it was a game show.
I like trivia so I thought I’d love this book so much that I bought two books in one shot “Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise” and “When Do Fish Sleep”. I HATED the delivery. That’s 10 bucks burnt away.
A fact is presented, and then 3 people propose a possible answer. (3 actors named A, B and C). The listener has 10 seconds to decide which answer is the correct one.
Didn’t like this set-up, I wanted a fun litany of interesting facts - not a game show!!!
Plus (especially in “When Do Fish Sleep”) in a lame and unsuccessful attempt at humour, A B and C would bicker and quarrel and dispute the over answers. This was an incredibly annoying and unnecessary waste of time.
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Overallout of 5 stars
- Amber
- 08-25-08
fun
nice subjects
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